To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold
Have from the forests shook three summers’ pride,
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned
In process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned,
Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.
Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived;
So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,
Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred:
Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead.

Programming Aids

Performance Difficulty:

moderate

Seasonal Usage:

Summer

Descriptive Terms:

marriage

celebration

anniversary

mature love

partnership

Allow Excerpts:

Composition is a single movement

Composer’s Notes:

Sonnet 104 describes a love that retains its youthful blush, even after the passing of time.